“The best way to describe my journey to the priesthood is a series of fortunate events by the grace of God,” said Simoes, ordained on May 10.

Although Simoes, a youthful 29-years-old, entered the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Toronto full of energetic ideas of evangelization, his journey didn’t begin with such noble intentions.

As a child his parents “dragged us to Mass,” which led to the Toronto native becoming an altar server by Grade 5 at Prince of Peace parish.

“Now I’m not proud of this but the way I started as altar server was for all the wrong reasons,” said Simeos, who also volunteered at the parish office. “I hated school, and ... serving at funerals at the parish that was right next door to my elementary school got me out of school. Fortunately for me God used these bad intentions and turned them into good things because it was serving at the altar where my love of the priesthood grew.”

Simoes spent his high school years doing this although his aspirations towards the priesthood dwindled as his focus shifted to a chemical engineering degree at the University of Waterloo.

Then in February 2005, while still attending university, a friend invited him to a Come and See Weekend at St. Augustine’s Seminary.

“I went and fortunately it rekindled my passion and love of the priesthood and things felt right there.”

So after garnering his degree in 2008 Simoes applied to the seminary.

“The rest, as we say, is a series of fortunate events.”

He is assigned to St. Isaac Jogues parish in Pickering.